U.S PARENTS BLAME CHATGPT FOR CHILD’S SUICIDE, SUE OPENAI
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By: Sefiu Ajape
The parents of a teenager who died by suicide after receiving self-harm guidance from ChatGPT have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging that the company “prioritized profit over safety” when it released the GPT-4o version of its chatbot last year.
Matt and Maria Raine, parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, filed the case on Tuesday in the Superior Court of California, United States.
This marks the first lawsuit accusing OpenAI of wrongful death.
According to the family, chat logs between Adam—who died in April—and ChatGPT reveal that he expressed suicidal thoughts, and they claim the system reinforced his “most harmful and self-destructive thoughts.”
The suit seeks to hold OpenAI accountable for wrongful death and violations of product safety regulations, while demanding unspecified financial damages.
In response, an OpenAI spokesperson expressed sadness over Raine’s death and stressed that ChatGPT has built-in safety measures, such as directing users to crisis helplines.
“While these safeguards work best in common, short exchanges, we’ve learned over time that they can sometimes become less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model’s safety training may degrade,” the spokesperson said, noting that OpenAI is committed to continually improving these safeguards.
The company has not yet directly addressed the specific claims raised in the lawsuit.
As AI chatbots gain wider use, many companies have promoted them as sources of companionship, with increasing numbers of users turning to them for emotional support.
However, experts caution that relying on AI for mental health advice can be risky, and families of individuals who died after engaging with chatbots have criticized the absence of adequate protective measures.
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